Garden Photo of the Day

Enjoying the Process

Michigan gardener Kathy loves creating her garden

My name is Kathy, I live in Royal Oak, Michigan, and I have gardens everywhere around my home. I love to garden, and I spend a lot of time outside. I have planted every plant you see since I moved here eight years ago. I enjoy the process as much as the finished product.

The woodland garden. I love how the light-colored leaves in the foreground contrast with the darker hostas in the back to make the whole space feel bigger.

More hostas, intermixed with some contrasting ferns, marching down along the fence in the side yard.

The back garden, planted with a combination of shrubs and perennials, and accented with pieces of garden art.

The front garden, in a photo taken in July 2015. The mostly low-growing plantings work well with the single-story home, accented here and there with taller shrubs.

Pots planted up with bright annuals provide a big punch of color, with the chartreuse foliage plants in the containers echoing the colors of the containers themselves and making the pink flowers glow all the brighter.

A long mass of low-growing roses provides an intense display of flowers. Sticking to just one variety for a mass planting like this can sometimes make a more impactful display than a design with many different plants, which can seem too busy.

 

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Comments

  1. nwphillygardener 02/20/2019

    Kathy, do you happen to know the cultivar name of the carpet rose you show? You can see the fun you are having as a gardener. I hope it is contagious energy for your neighbors!

    1. tiqi 02/20/2019

      Hi, These are pink drift roses, a bit different from carpet roses. I think of them more in the family of “knock out” roses. Very easy to maintain. Thanks for asking.

  2. User avater
    meander_michaele 02/20/2019

    Hi, Kathy, can you hear the faint sigh of hosta envy traveling all the way from TN to MI? I grow them and love them... but they never look as gloriously healthy as the ones in more northern gardens like yours. The somewhat silvery bark, limbed up tree makes a nice contrast with your arrangement of chartreuse containers with the tumbles of pink spilling about. And, oh, wow, about the mass planting of roses lining your driveway. They put on quite a show!

    1. tiqi 02/20/2019

      Agree!

  3. User avater
    treasuresmom 02/20/2019

    It is all so pretty. How do you keep it weeded?

    1. tiqi 02/20/2019

      I don’t do much weeding. I have a huge Austrian pine that loses masses of needles yearly. I use them in my woodland gardens, store bought mulch in my front yard and city provided wood chips in the back gardens. I live in the midst of mature cities with ongoing tree maintenance. The city makes the wood chips available for free. That is mostly my routine.

  4. Cenepk10 02/20/2019

    How charming!!!! I know how fun /daunting it is to start from scratch. Then... hurry up and wait ! You’ve done a tremendous job. That front foundation border is fabulous as is the carpet roses. I can see your personality in your plantings. Nice job ! Thanks for sharing. It’s all beautiful & immaculately maintained.

  5. User avater
    simplesue 02/20/2019

    Enjoying the process of gardening is as fun as the results for sure! I was wondering if the small roses just naturally take that shape or need pruning? And just like "nwphillygardener" I'd love to know the name of them. Love the shrub border also!

    1. tiqi 02/20/2019

      Hi,
      I have a huge Austrian pine that loses masses of needles yearly. I use them in my woodland gardens, store bought mulch in my front yard and city provided wood chips in the back gardens. I live in the midst of mature cities with ongoing tree maintenance. The city makes the wood chips available for free. That is mostly my routine.

    2. tiqi 02/20/2019

      Hello. I prune the drift roses in the early spring. That’s it. Mine have done well with regular fertilizing and timely watering. Can’t forget that watering. The picture doesn’t really show it but they are on a berm or raised strip of land. I must water to get showy bloom.

    3. tiqi 02/20/2019

      Hello. I prune the drift roses in the early spring. That’s it. Mine have done well with regular fertilizing and timely watering. Can’t forget that watering. The picture doesn’t really show it but they are on a berm or raised strip of land. I must water to get showy bloom.

  6. cheryl_c 02/20/2019

    What delightful garden art and artful arrangement of plants! I especially love the hot pink flowers in their chartreuse containers. ZAP! what colors! I think you must be a really fun person, judging from your gardens!

  7. Musette1 02/20/2019

    Your entire garden is gorgeous - but that hosta border? DIVINE!

  8. btucker9675 02/20/2019

    Love your pretty garden! Lived in Troy, MI years ago for couple of years and enjoyed gardening there very much. Royal Oak is a fun town and your garden surely adds to the delight!

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